The Search for Lumek
by Vendra
Summary: 2nd in the Rosalina series. Lumek has been lost. Mario and Rosalina, with some new helpers along the way, must find him!
1. Chapter 1

The Search For Lumek

 _Time: 7:20 Month: Peach Day: Toadday_

It was a nice, sunny day in Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi slept while three Goombas played Double Dutch. One Goomba heard something and stopped jumping, telling the others to stop spinning the ropes. They all turned around to find the source of the sound. They didn't notice the red plumber sneaking up behind them.

The Goombas shrugged and turned back around - just in time to be able to identify the red blur heading for them as the legendary Super Mario, and to open their mouths to scream. Mario got to them first and knocked them out cold. He then picked them up and started towards Peach Castle.

Peach saw Mario coming. "Oh! Thank you Mario! You're always so fast! I'll get the Toads to wipe their minds with the mind-wiper thing you stole from Bowser Jr. Then we'll send them off as our spies on Bowser. That way we'll always know when he's coming to kidnap me!" she said, then ran off, Goombas in hand.

 _Maybe I should have told her that she forgot her shoes. Nah._ Mario thought, then started off towards his house.

When Mario got home, he began to cook a meal for him and Luigi. He finished making it, and was putting it on the table as Luigi walked down the stairs rubbing his eyes.

"Mmf. Thankz." he said, before slowly beginning to eat.

Mario was washing the dishes when he heard a knock on the door. Luigi was in the shower, so he answered the door.

It was Peach's personal Toad messenger. "The Princess requests your immediate presence. Well, as immediate as you can be."

"All right. Does she-a want Luigi too?"

"No, just you. She says it's important."

"Ok."

Ten minutes later, Mario was standing in front of the grand doors of Peach's Castle, knocking.

"Enter."

Mario was startled by the voice. It was not Peach. "Enter." it said again, maintaining the same calm manner. Mario summoned courage, which he seemingly had no end of, and opened the door.

The scene inside the castle was not at all what Mario expected. The three Goombas he had knocked out earlier were in a brilliant yellow cage of Lumas. Peach was way, way up on the ceiling, held there by Lumas on her ankles and wrists. She was struggling for all she was worth, but the Lumas held fast, not only because they knew that she would die if they let go, but also because they were ordered to.

And in the center of it all, was Rosalina. She had her wand out, it's star was glowing and she had her thumb over what appeared to be a button. Mario had enough time to vaguely notice that her eyes were glazed over before the star stopped glowing and her eyes returned to their normal state. "Hello, Mario." she began. "I see that the messenger Toad I sent made it to you."

Mario turned to look at the mentioned Toad, who just shrugged. "I didn't say which princess, did I?" he said. Mario thought about that for a second, then turned towards Rosalina again.

"I need your help. Lumek is gone. He also disconnected from me and the rest of the Lumas. I need you to help find him. Do you accept?"

Mario shook his head. Rosalina looked questioning. Mario motioned towards Peach, still stuck on the ceiling, though she had quit struggling and settled to just glaring fireballs at Rosalina. "Oh. Let her and the Goombas go."

Mario watched as the Lumas put Peach down and then formed a sphere over Rosalina's head. The spy Goomba were released and the cage of Lumas added to the sphere. "Now do you accept?" Rosalina asked again, ignoring the extreme glare being shot her way.

Mario seemed to think about it for a second or two, then nodded an emphatic yes. "Good." Rosalina said. "In that case," she looked up at the sphere hovering above her. "Luma, come out!"

The Lumas parted, letting a silver-white Luma come out. Upon seeing Mario, it giggled with joy, floated over to him, and zipped into his hat. Mario smiled as his hands glowed, giving him the ability to spin at extremely high speeds.

"My ship is still in orbit; it has no landing gear. There is, however, a Sling Star waiting for us behind the castle." Rosalina informed. "If you do not want it, Princess, we will bring up with a Pull Star before we leave."

Peach continued her glare, not wavering in the slightest. _I never knew Peach to be a grudge-holder._ Mario thought. _I wonder what happened before I got here._

Rosalina started towards the doors, then looked back at Mario expectantly. Mario looked back at Peach, then began to leave.

They made way their way around the castle, gathering onlookers as they went. Luigi, figuring this was where Mario went, had come to find him. He came up beside Mario. "What is going on?" he asked.

"Remember Lumek?" Mario asked. Luigi nodded. "She needs help finding him." he finished, nodding towards the space princess.

They had arrived at the Sling Star. Luigi marveled at it's beauty. He looked up, trying to see the amazing ship it was aimed at...

Only to see it hurtling towards him, blocking the sun behind it.

Luigi panicked, as did all the Toads that had gathered to see Mario leave. Rosalina looked up, her calm shattered, Mario could see her shaking. But as he watched, she slipped her wand out of her sleeve and aimed it up. The star glowed, and the glow came out and formed a giant shield that protected the castle. The observatory bounced off the shield and began it's way back to space.

Mario came up beside her as she recovered her calm. "What happened?" he asked.

"Did you not see the trace of red-purple behind it? No, you actually probably didn't. You didn't know where to look. The red-purple trace totally gives away that this was Lumek's work." She looked back up. "My own child." she murmured.

"Hey!" A voice said. Rosalina looked down to see a Toad at her feet. "The Sling Star is still intact. Are you going to leave?"

"Yes." she said, turning to Mario. "You may go first, Mario."

Mario walked up to the star, thinking the days events over.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, again everyone! Here is the next instalment of The Search for Lumek! There is a poll on my profile regarding the length of chapters. Please go there, I'd like to know what fans want. Also, thank you Prettiest Girl and izackmaniac for your reviews. Don't worry P.G., there will be action in the next chapter. ;) Enjoy!

The starry evening sky that surrounded the Comet Observatory reminded Mario how small is everyone really was in the grand scheme of things. He stared in awe at the massive star that was the sun, then realized what he was doing and looked away. He put his arms out, remembering what it was like to fly. He closed his eyes and just felt the wind in his face.

BAM!

Mario felt his nose hit hard concrete. He winced as he flipped over and over, sliding along the floor of the Observatory.

When he finally came to a stop, he sat up, put his hat back on – it was at the end of the Observatory – and sat there for a minute, drinking in the Observatory.

Not much had changed since he was last there. It was still as bright as normal; the Beacon was still the proper size. But still Mario sat there, admiring all of the thought and care that went into each and every thing on the Observatory. Each flower had the proper amount of water, and there were no wilted leaves or anything of the sort. He realized that he was sitting in a patch of flowers, thus the reason that he got up and moved a few inches to the right. Mario then looked back at the flowers. Somehow, they were still in the state that they previously were in, upright and happy. But they did seem to be glaring at him. "Sorry," he mumbled, and looked away.

Suddenly the Observatory had transformed into a brilliant blue light that was everywhere. Mario was so startled that he fell over, ironically, into the patch of flowers that he had just vacated. He opened his eyes to see stars, and a familiar face.

"Are you okay?" Rosalina asked, worried and confused as to why the plumber had just flown backwards into a flower patch. Since Mario been sitting, when Rosalina had teleported in front of him, everything had turned blue because of her dress. Sitting, Mario hardly came up to her knees. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Maammaa mmiiaa…" Mario drawled, dazed. But he quickly recovered and hopped up, only to knock a Luma right out of the sky.

"Oof-weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" the Luma yelled, spinning off into the sky. Polari, hearing this, spun around from the Blue Luma he was teaching and searched for the soon-to-be interstellar comet. Locating the yellow Luma, he muttered a short, "Oh Lums." before racing after him. Just as Lums was about to leave the gravitational field, Polari spun around him and bounced him the other way.

"Oof-weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Lums said again, now flying towards the Observatory. He continued saying this as he flew down the chimney of the Kitchen, and straight back out again, his bottom flaming. Thankfully, he landed in water this time, and was successfully stopped and his flaming bottom was doused.

However, now Polari had a problem. HE was now the one flying out into the great unknown. At this time, the Blue Luma he was previously teaching knew that she had to do something. Mustering all her strength, she closed her eyes and began to get brighter. And brighter. Until she transformed into a small blue star. Mario, who had been watching all the chaos he had caused recognized this as a Pull Star. Aiming at the slightly panicked brown Luma, the star in the center of the Pull Star shot out to meet Polari. It positioned itself behind the Luma, and pulled him to safety. The Pull Star popped back into a Luma, and a slightly jittery Polari said: "Thank you, Lumanaria."

Mario, seeing that everyone was alright, turned to face Rosalina. Only to find her rolling on the ground, laughing her head off, her crown rolled away, her wand discarded for the moment.

"That," Rosalina said, once she could stop laughing. "That was the funniest thing I've seen in decades."

Mario was then nearly knocked over by a Luma who was in such a rush that it wasn't looking where it was going. Straightening his messed up cap, Mario watched the yellow star address Rosalina excitedly.

"Mama? Mama! I've found traces of the enemy in nearby galaxies!" Mario noted with interest that the Luma referred to Lumek as "the enemy" instead of by name.

"Good job, Luna." Rosalina commended the Luma. "May you please show us these galaxies?"

"Absolutely, Mama!" Luna said excitedly before heading off in the direction of the spinning green platforms below the main ground level. Rosalina stood up, turned to Mario.

"Come with me?" she asked. Mario nodded an enthusiastic yes before following her in the direction the Luma headed. Once they got on to the platforms, much to Mario's surprise, Rosalina walked right off the edge of the platform.

Or so it seemed. In reality, the gravity shifted for Rosalina as she walked off the edge, making it possible for her to walk on the bottom of the spinning platform. This knowledge did not make it to Mario before he almost jumped right off the platform, though.

Recomposing himself, Mario mustered the courage to step off the edge of the green platform. As he flipped, he was greeted by the familiar, somewhat stomach turning, sensation of flipping around a small planet. On the bottom – or now top – of the platform, Mario stopped for a second to stop the Observatory from spinning in his vision, so as not to lose his breakfast.

Rosalina had already hopped over to the centre platform, which had a dome that Mario had never seen before. Seeing that Rosalina had entered, Mario jumped over to the platform as well, and after a moments hesitation, entered.

The inside of the dome was covered in screens, showing the ships status, the amount of passengers, and on one screen, flashing in red letters, were the words: ENEMY DETECTED.

"Welcome to the Command Dome." Rosalina said, standing on the other side of the room. "Luna, will you please show us the galaxies in suspicion?"

"Well, it has now been narrowed down to one area, and it isn't specifically a galaxy." Luna replied, bringing on a display on the command table in the centre of the room that Mario had not yet noticed. Open seeing it, Mario almost froze in a mixture of shock and dread.

Lumek was on the Dreadnought.


End file.
